Times
by Whaile
Summary: I Dunno'


Naruto awoke to the sound of an alarm clock beeping it's pitch into the point blank range of his ear. He found that this particular method of waking up comes hand in hand with being a ninja as well as a ninja trainee. In fact, for the last 4 years he woke up this way and was almost certain it wouldn't be for a long time when he could sleep without it's interruption.

Stumbling into the bathroom, Naruto lazily undressed his pajamas and turned on the shower. A boy of his age often awoke to a cold shower every morning. Water dripped down onto his glaringly red hair and dropped onto his thin and pale figure. He was one of the smallest and mousiest kids in his class. Luckily, he was one of the fastest and strongest as well. He sprung open his bright green eyes and forced himself awake. In a couple of seconds, he jumped out the shower and got dressed. After tugging up his boxers, he pulled on a pair of formfitting pants and a black t-shirt . He didn't put too much focus on aesthetics as it held no hold on actual skill. He chose to stick with the standard shinobi gear. Gear without the unnecessary flash and retardation of a 8 year old cartoon character. Then, he brushed his teeth like most 12 year olds do, that is to say quickly, and he sprung out his bathroom faster than a bat out of hell.

In the kitchen lay his kunai and shuriken strap. He tied those to his legs respectively and filled in a pot with water.

"Waking up to the sensual calling of ramen is the greatest feeling in the world." He said to no one in particular. He noticed he did that a lot lately.

In the time it took to boil, he strapped his wakizashi to his back with a crisscrossed strap holding onto a sheath. He filled up his instant cup ramen cup and slurped on it until it was finished. Then he quickly tied his head protector to his neck and walked through the door. He locked up his apartment and strolled down the stairs, content look in place. After all, today was the day he'd be meeting his team.

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><p>Naruto walked into the classroom already full of his peers and passed through a mass of empty seats to find his usual spot; the seat just right of the 6 year old Uchiha prodigy, Itachi. It would be stretch to call the two friends but they were friendly enough. Of course, how could Naruto be friends with someone half his age anyway?<p>

"Hello Itachi, how'd you find the graduation test?" Naruto had his signature self assured smile stamped onto his face and his usual twinkle of the eye.

"Easy enough." He responded levelheadedly. "But that is because I'm at least somewhat competent."

Itachi folded his hands onto his knees and resumed his quiet wait for the teacher. The chuckles hailing from his right interrupted him out of his stupor though. He turned to see the face of Naruto, his only equal in the entire class, laughing stupendously.

"What's so funny?" Itachi questioned, confused as all hell.

"Nothing, nothing." Naruto responded, face red from the intense laughter now erupting from his throat.

Itachi's face flattened. Was this guy serious?

"Then why are you laughing?"

"Oh it's easy enough! Cliché prodigy. I bet you're not even human just a cyborg. Or a sociopath. Or a sociopathic cyborg" Naruto spoke between fits of laughter and deep inhalations.

Itachi could only roll his eyes, just as he usually done. "I can almost assure you, I'm no sociopath."

"Aha! You're true nature has been discovered vile cyborg." Naruto yelled into the underdeveloped ear of his younger counterpart. With no reaction granted. Itachi just frowned in annoyance and kept his gaze towards the front of the class. Naruto took this time to look around his home away from home one last time before he graduated onto more exciting and scarier things.

Currently, the classroom was packed with bright young shinobi hopefuls and kids with nothing else to do with their time. Towards the front of the classroom stood a desk sturdy and stable ready to hold anything a teacher needed to set down for a couple of moments. Obviously this wasn't just any desk off the street but the teacher's desk. And wouldn't you know it, here comes the owner of the desk, the teacher himself.

"Aw crap, here comes sensei buzz kill with his bag full of boring." Naruto said.

Itachi looked up in surprise. "That's an exaggeration. He isn't that bad." Naruto came back with a mock face and a blown raspberry.

Iruka took his position centerfold of the blackboard and waited for the student's attention. Not so patiently I might add and after about 5 seconds he got fed up with the yelling and let out a hefty and monstrous roar.

"Quiet!" The chirps of the birds perched on the trees next to the academy became suddenly audible. The mean look Iruka held on his face had made even the chirps cease sooner rather than later though. "Now as you already know, today is your first step into the journey of your adulthood. Today is the day you become recognized as the protectors of The Village Hidden in the Leaves. Today you become shinobi."

He started pacing towards his desk and reached for a collection of sheets of paper of bound together into one neat little binder.

"Now before I announce your teams, there is something we must get out of the way." He took out a certificate framed expensively and held it out to the gaze of his students. "Rookie of the Year: Uchiha Itachi. Come and get your award."

Itachi gracefully stood from his seat and went upfront towards Iruka. With a bow he took the certificate and faced his fellow graduates.

"It's been a privilege learning with you." Just as quick as he came up and took his award, he sat back to his seat and pried all attention off of himself.

"Now everyone, pay attention. Here are your team assignments. Assigned by the great Hokage-sama himself." All eyes focused in on the two prodigies. Everyone wanted to be on the strongest team after all.

"Team One: Shinko Nara, Korutai Dabute, and Izuma Koika." Murmurs spread throughout the graduates and curiosity filled the air.

"Team Two: Uchiha Itachi, Namikaze Naruto, and Inuzuka Hana." A pregnant pause shortly followed.

"Hey, no fair!" shouted a chubby boy with some markings on his face. "Why do the two top students get to be on the same team? That gives them a higher advantage than-"

A loud bang interrupted his tirade. Iruka slammed his hand onto the desk and equipped an angry expression to his face.

"First of all, life's not fair. Second of all, I had no say on the matter as I just told you. It was the Hokage that decides these things. So either go to the higher ups or zip it." Not another peep left the student's little mouth.

"Anyone else has something to whine about?" Dead silence.

In this time, Naruto thought of his lucky break. Even if Hana was a clumsy and mentally retarded chimpanzee, they'd still be in the clear. Naruto stretched a smile from ear to ear and with this smile he turned to Itachi and said with the most serious voice he could possibly muster, "Wake me up when all the boring stuff ends." Seconds later he was out like a light with his arms folded under his head.

**_30 minutes later_**

Poke after poke, Naruto refused to wake up. Left little cute Itachi with no choice. A slap echoed out in the class room and Naruto bolted up, alarmed and jittery, and eyes open wide. He shook his head and looked around only to see Itachi blankly looking straight ahead, flushed, and a group of classmates, gathered laughing at him.

"Why'd you slap me?"

Itachi innocently looked towards Naruto and shrugged. "I didn't hit you." Naruto was about to get to his anger out but was quickly interrupted. "It's about time you got up, anyway."

Naruto just grumbled some cuss words, stood, and walked through the now far less crowded classroom and out the door. Itachi just followed, content look in place.

"So where do you want to eat?" Naruto asked. They strolled down the pathway leading into the street from the Academy. It was lunch break. They walked at a leisurely rate and often stopped to take in the bright day sunshine and mild lazy stretch.

"I don't know." Itachi said. "Shouldn't we eat as a team. With Hana."

"Eh." Naruto grunted. "Why not?" Some time passed by as they blankly stared at each other.

"Do you know where she is?" Naruto drawled out.

"No, not specifically." Itachi said in return.

Another pause showed itself into the conversation and more blank looks from the teammates soon followed. I guess you can call this awkward. On good days.

Naruto sighed and itched on his scalp. "I honestly don't feel like looking for her." Itachi just shrugged in return and continued walking down the pathway.

"Ramen?" he called out. He counted to three full seconds before Naruto shot past by him.

* * *

><p>"So this is my team." A lanky gray haired man said as he sat on the ledge of the roof of the academy building. His unfaltering gaze traveled from one member to the other slowly and steadily and his expression of sleepiness was set seemingly permanently onto his face.<p>

"Introduce yourselves, starting with the three year old."

"My name is Uchiha Itachi."

The gray haired man blinked. "That's it?"

Itachi's brow wrinkled in confusion. "What do you mean? I introduced myself."

The man chuckled. "Perhaps, it's better if I set an example first." He looked down deep in thought for a couple of moments before mumbling something incoherent and nodding his head.

"My name is Hatake Kakashi. I'm a Jounin of Konoha. My hobbies include but are not limited to reading."

"I see. My name is Uchiha Itachi. I am a Genin of Konoha and my hobbies include but are not limited to reading."

Kakashi shook his head. "No, that's not what I meant. I just gave you the format; you don't have to take what I said word for word."

"No, my hobby really is reading."

Kakashi just awkwardly looked in response. One silent moment later, Kakashi spoke.

"Oh." He then turned his attention to Naruto. "Alright then. Your turn now, red head."

"My name is Namikaze Naruto. I enjoy sealing and studying ninjutsu. There aren't many things that I hate."

"Dandy. Now, the girl with paint on her face."

Hana just rolled her eyes. "Name is Hana Inuzuka. I like animals especially dogs and I hate whoever dares to hurt any animal. I mean they're just so cure and helpl-"

"That's nice." Kakashi interrupted. "Now usually, I'd be able to give you guys a test and guarantee you failing it but that's not the case this time. It seems the Hokage is especially fond of this team and I must take it no matter what my opinion is on the matter."

He stood to leave and in his exit said. "Tomorrow come to the 7th training guard at 900 hours. There will be a team assessment."

_Kakashi groaned loudly, plumped onto the chair, and looked back into the intimidating eyes of the Hokage. "What do you mean I have no choice?"_

_The leader puffed on his pipe restfully. "It is as it sounds. You absolutely must take this team. There's too much talent to be lost if you don't."_

_"Oh, ok."  
><em>

"What an asshole!" Hana huffed before storming off.

Itachi looked at Naruto, shrugged, and left as well.

**_Couple of Hours Later_**

Naruto shunshined from point A to point B repeatedly for the last two hours. Getting used to the tunnel vision. One of the only techniques he ever practiced so religiously. He momentarily stopped and walked towards the tree to vomit, yet he didn't quit the seeming self loathing exercise. Again and again, he practiced Shunshin. It was second nature to him already. He mastered the technique and then some. He figure a little vomit was the small price to pay for traveling at the speed of light. The time period between his Shunshins slowly got shorter and soon he was doing the technique within seconds. He wondered if was ready for shinobi life and with thought he passed out on the grassy green of the cold and dark night forest. He had only been learning the technique for a year after all.

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><p><strong>So that is the prologue.<strong> **I will be updating ever week or so with chapters much longer than this. Honestly, I don't consider this a chapter anyway.**


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